PAX Arena Valorant Invitational Reveals Teams, Date and Casters

After a successful inaugural event, gaming and esports community PAX is headed for the second leg of the Ignition Series dedicated to VALORANT in North America.

PAX Hosts Second Event in VALORANT Ignition Series North America

PAX Arena Valorant Invitational is a significant event for the North American VALORANT crowd as it’s the second leg in the Riot’s global Ignition Series.

The whole intiative is part of Riot Games’ effort to reach out to third-parties and allow them to host esports tournaments for VALORANT, following specific pre-determined guidelines. In doing so, Riot hopes to encourage the grassroots and organic development of the esports ecosystem around the game.

Hosted and produced by established esports and gaming community PAX, VALORANT is off to a great start. The official sponsor of the event at the time is Seagate, which manufactures top-of-the-range SSD hard drives.

More pros join The PAX Arena VALORANT Invitational– powered by @seagategaming July 22-26. Welcome @100Thieves @FaZeClan @Complexity & @Renegades to the competition! Find out more info and where to watch at https://t.co/z6SuaDLczp pic.twitter.com/cDSSykGB3w

— PAX (@pax) July 16, 2020

Meanwhile, PAX is best known for the regional gaming expos known as PAX East, PAX West, PAX South and PAX Australia. Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, many of these expos have now been cancelled.

However, the VALORANT Ignition Series are taking place elsewhere besides North America, including Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Who Is Taking Part?

The event will feature 20 teams which have been invited. Out of these, 16 will represent a professional esports outfit whereas four will be built around esports personalities within the VALORANT community. The list of teams so far includes 15, and specifically:

• T1
• Gen.G
• Prospects
• Echo 8
• 100 Blifted
• Team SoloMid
• CLoud9
• Built by Gamers
• Mixup
• 100 Thieves
• FaZe Clan
• Complexity Gaming
• Renegades
• Team Mang0
• OWL

The event itself will feature a total prize pool worth $25,000 and the winning prize has been set at $10,000. The event itself will stretch for five days from July 22 through July 26.

How Are the VALORANT PAX Arena Ignition Series Played?

There will be two main formats for the event. The first one focuses on the group stages which will run in four groups of five teams each. The match-ups will be in a Best of Three (BO3) format and the top two teams of each team will progress to the playoffs.

Once in the playoffs, teams will switch the format to a single elimination bracket with no second chances for those who fail to make the cut. Quarterfinals will be played in a BO3 format whereas the Grand Finals will be played in a Best of Five (BO5) format instead.

Valorant PAX Arena Ignition Series Schedule

Here's the official breakdown of where to watch the PAX Arena VALORANT Invitational– powered by @seagategaming. July 22-26, tune in to see the best players in North America compete for a $25,000 prize pool and more! More info at https://t.co/YPxFbi5JiQ pic.twitter.com/TAjscetdKP

— PAX (@pax) July 10, 2020

There are four main stages to the event more or less. Each will run in its allocated time slot as follows:

• Group Stage: 22-23 July 2020
• Quarterfinals: 24 July 2020
• Semi-finals: 25 July
• Grand Finals: 26 July

Valorant PAX Arena Hosts and Casters

.@MLGPuckett chimes in with his favorite thing about VALORANT. Catch him casting The PAX Arena VALORANT Invitational– powered by @seagategaming July 22-24 on https://t.co/EK9A8LwPik! pic.twitter.com/2A0Iy7ETkN

— PAX (@pax) July 13, 2020

Where to Watch Valorant Arena Pax Invitational?

Each day may have a slightly different schedule, but it will always be broadcast on one of two channels:

• PAX Arena Channel
• Valorant Channel

The Wednesday and Thursday events will be available at 2 PM PT/5 PM ET. The Friday and Saturday Events will kick off at 12 PM PT/3 PM ET and the Grand Finals will return to the 2 PM PT/5 PM ET time.